Goods & Services
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A GOOD is an object people want that they can touch or hold. A SERVICE is an action that a person does for someone else. Examples: Goods are items you buy, such as food, clothing, toys, furniture, and toothpaste. Services are actions such as haircuts, medical check-ups, mail delivery, car repair, and teaching.
Goods are tangible objects that satisfy people’s wants. Services are actions, such as haircuts and car repair, which also satisfy people’s wants. A key point to emphasize to young children is that goods and services must be produced – they don’t appear magically on store shelves. Similarly, they are produced using scarce productive resources (natural, human, and capital); thus, the goods and services themselves are considered scarce.
Depending on the grade level, it may be appropriate to teach the distinction between consumer goods and capital goods. Consumer goods are the “final” goods purchased by consumers. Capital goods are those used to produce other goods and services (e.g. tools, equipment, machinery). A skillful teacher can use these concepts to help students think about their futures in the world of work. Instead of asking students what they want to be when they grow up, ask them to identify what goods or services they might want to produce when they grow up.
Teaching Tips
Understanding
Teach the distinction between “Capital Goods” and “Consumer Goods.” Capital Goods are goods used to create other goods. Consumer goods are final products. Instead of asking your students what they want to do when they grow up, ask what kind of goods or services they want to produce or offer.
Create a collage representing goods and/or services that families consume.
Using modeling clay, make examples of goods and of people performing services.
Draw and color pictures to accompany this title, “People Work To Produce Goods and Services.”
Write a paragraph entitled, “How Goods Get To the Store.” Draw a picture to accompany the paragraph.
Evaluating
Visit a local store to see how goods are marketed. Analyze store displays, the packaging of goods, etc.
Write a paragraph on “What Good or Service I Want to Produce When I Grow Up.”
Applying
Find examples of goods and services in the yellow pages.
Teach students how to read information labels on various goods.
Make a large “wishing well” bulletin board. Have students classify the things they wish for as goods or services.
Identify consumer goods and capital goods in stories, the yellow pages, or magazines.
Remembering
Play the “Clap-Clap, Stomp-Stomp” game. Call out an example of a good or service. Tell students to clap loudly if a good, to stomp loudly if a service.
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